David Germain, 55, has had the threat of HS2 looming over his home and business for more than a decade.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt fix a ‘Powered By Levelling Up’ sign on to Accrington Market “Until we hear any different, I’m taking it that there’s a railway coming through our property.“Don’t get me wrong, if it gets scrapped, we would jump for joy. We get our livelihood back.
Back in 2013, the original route for the high-speed rail link connecting London to Manchester passed 27 metres from their property. Having read the latest headlines, Mr Germain said now is the time for people like him to finally have an answer.“We first heard about this in January 2013, it’s been 10 and a half years and they’ve still got to do ground tests around us.“If HS2 had had a more proactive approach they might have secured the route and the line might have been built by now.
Downing Street said there is precedent to delaying aspects of the high-speed rail scheme because of “affordability pressures”, pointing towards high inflation.